On the night of September 2, 2009, twelve hit men carrying AK-47s forced open the main door of Casa Aliviane, a drug rehabilitation center in Ciudad Juarez. Inside, they started shooting at a group of 19 young recovering addicts and alleged cartel members. From a hallway overlooking an inner courtyard, the hit men riddled their victims with bullets.

In photos taken the following day, there are blood-soaked footprints in various sizes under a small tiled roof that decorates the half-pink, half-magenta façade of the Casa Aliviane. Thicker tracks mark the path of a wounded man who managed to crawl outside just before he died. In total, the gunmen killed 18 young men.